Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-07-16
DRIFT.

hooks and new magsxlneo % steodily goias
on from year 70 year, there 10 serious danger
that in isv eenssaaioos the men and womsn
Of our country will have no TINE lsft q all
for tho reading oe those SsW classics OF our
literature without which Gil other reading,
however voluminoua, snd however good In
ITSELF 10 like the srectiou OF an elaborate
structure upon Q foundation OF sand. There
are fow books Ia our literature which are
absolutely essential 70 true culture. They
arc the alphabet of culture; the condition
sine qua n0n without them Il In not even
possible 10 have . correct conception - 70
what literary culture ~ They are the
awaksners Of the literary conscience; the
standards OF literary good and evil They
form In us correct tastes inspire In us the
love for the good aud diatasts for the bed |:
they are tho rock foundation upon which
alone the superstructure Of true culture and
refinement can b built.
A psrson may have read thousand books,
oil OF Ou,ds, the Duchsss, e. r. Roe, yes, and
even oil OF tho really good and standard
poetry and works Of fiction In the whole Len.
guage, and yet hsvs lsss true literary cul-
ture than he who has probably read only
one thousAndth part - much, II that thou.
ssndth part consisted Of even only one Of
shoOU "osAo WuICu 80 - ss4O hOuuuossOss ~
oar literature, one Of IT. living and potent
foundation stones, - u we're
All culture that hes not . right foundation
10 hollow, superficial, mere venesring. The
refinement and polish that 20 beneath the
surface, the solid reality, can b0 attained only
upon the solid snd real substrstum Of literary
character that comes from the assimilation Of
the nobiest thoughts and purest feelings,
49, 49,
psrativeiy few men 10 the great books they
have written.
Knowing this to be indisputably true,
often have misgivings - TO the literary
future among US ! So indeed that the taste
for reading II steadily and rapidly growing.
But 10 the taste for good reading, for the best
resding doing soY ! notice that our young
folks especially. even our boys and girls, are
bscoming invsterats omnivorous readers.
But unfortunately, too, l cannot conceal the
feet that nine -tentha OF all their reading is
utterly Improbable. and not . little OF Il
harmful. Nine-tenths OF IL II OF such lttera-
had proper literary foundation laid, II they
had ever read the few vital and formative
books OF cur language.
I am quite positive that OF . hundred oil
LAncsstsr's young men and young women |
protesting literary tastes" and pasking for |
" "literariiy cultured" who have read Mr.. |
Haggard Riders latest, or Mr.. Crawford'A
" Of course!" not ton have read more than /
I've have read single volume OF Emerson. |
All have read some OF Longfeliow's and /
w Whittier's poems, . little OF Lowell and
Holmes, but how little Of Emersonf Prob
ably none ut all but " hat they had 70 read In
their school "ra Hdsrs" or what they have
since come across quoted In some novel.
Do you think under estimate the number /
OF those who have read Emerson among our /
younger eenerationf I wish l did. But
honestly, ! rather fear have over estimated /
the number than otherwise.
Now consider what this means. Nothing
else than that ninesy-nve per cont OF the
most diligent readers, the most "cultured"
and "litsrsry" young men and young
women, In our community, have failed or
neglected to lay the very corner stone with.
out which no American dare claim anything
like adequate literary culture or correct tasta
10 read Emsrson-for one never gets done |
reading him any more than ono gets done |
reading Shsk espeare or the Bible-thouRh |
everything else have been read In the Ian |
guage, Ii little short OF disgrsceful for an
American, and certainly fatal "ono thing |
thou lack est" In the sspirsnt to right taste
aud true refinement In the realm of English |
letters For this culture, according to
Matthew Arnold, In "to know the best that
has been thought and aaid In the world !" and
~ Emerson himself defines 1t, Literature
is the record OF the best thoughts !" aud 1t 10
I'm acknowledged fact that In our American
record Of "the hest thoughts" the writings OF
Ralph Waldo Emerson stand at the very
head. " The best that has been thought
and said" In this country cannot be known
without knowing what Emerson has thought
and said.
don't want you to think that this IL my
opinion alone. 1t IL the accepted opinion OF
lu critica Thus George william Curtis de.
clAres of his complete works, - recently is-
sued In the Riverside Edition OF eleven
beautiful volumes, "In NO equai body Of
writings IL there Q more uniform value. It
10 all golden, and It 10 uDqusstiOnsbly the
richest contribution Of AMsricsn genius to
writer since Milton" says another critic Of
high and acknow lodged standing, scan we
assign ID high place; even Milton himself,
great genius though he was, and great srchi.
tect OF beauty, has not added 10 many
thoughts to the treasury Of the race" James
Russell Lowell, our greatest living poet and /
scholarly critic and esAayist, wrots OF Emer. |
son when he WAS yet alive, "There 10 NO |
msn living 70 whom, - writer, 30 many OF |
US issl aud thankfully scknOwl ledge 10 great |
We look upon him ~ one OF the few men Of |
genius whom our age hes produced and
there needs no better proof Of 1t than his mss.
cultne faculty OF formulating human lninds."
Similar testimony could be quoted from
Il. =. Whippls, f. q. Stsdmsn. aud In fact |
all the leading American critics, while those
of England fully agree with them. I don't
except Matthew Arnold, who really granted
all that /. worth Claiming for Emerson, his
much discussed criticism finding fault only
with the outer form, not tne vital substance
OF his writings. ! have space, however,
only for one or two more witnesses.
His most charming biographsr, DR..
Holmes himself In the volume on Emerson
In the "Americsn Men OF Letters" series,
says, A" 1t SCENE to Us 70 day, that Emsrson's
best literary work In prose ana poetry must
live - long - the language lasts but
whether Il live or tsds from memory, the in.
fiuencs OF bis great and noble life aud the
spoken aud written words Whicn were its
ex xpOnsnts, blends, iudestructible, with the
enduring elements OF civiiiz stiOn." And he
quotes spprOvingly this stsnxs from Mr..
Crsnch's lines addressed 70 Emerson
"Chs wise will know thee and the good will
The age to come viii nnd thy impress given
Itself, and stAmps It with the seal OF heaven"
His writings" says DR.. Holmes ON